Thursday, June 28, 2007

My little sister celebrates birthday on Friday June 29th (it is already 29th on east coast as I publish). Now that we are on separate Coasts and she works graveyard shift we don't see each other as much or talk as much as we should. But thoughts do include her daily.

Congrats to Hoy for winning Riverchaser's last night. I made it through whole tourney without being paid off on big hand, hate it when that happens. Congrats to BuddyDank on final tabling which may force pursuit into must win position in BigGame.

Ratatouille is opening today, this is the movie of the summer to my daughter, so will not be playing Kat's donkarama tonight.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I went out 12th in the Mookie last night when my AJ from the button ran into QQ from jjoff the Full Tilt was kind enough to give me an OESD but neither my Ace or 7 came up to save me. Saving grace of falling short of money was that Waffles had so much faith in the "waffles curse" that he placed a last longer bet with me. 21 minutes into Mookie I got to type "ship it" in waffles chat box. Congrats to RecessRampage for outlasting Wes in the most boring HU match in BBT history.

Did get to serve as guest on Dank Poker Radio with BuddyDank and InstantTragedy. OMG that is a distraction to playing poker. Not quite sure how Buddy and Sean do it when they are actually trying to keep show moving. It's still only a couple of hours after and I am at a loss to tell you what I said after Buddy said "we're off" vs. after Buddy said "we're on"

Having the PLO8 pop up while on air was no help either believe I lost when Wes? had gut shot + nut flush draw against my top set and rivered flush.

Borrowing a theme from Bill Simmons I thought we would answer readers questions today:

Q: How much more time have you logged playing WSOP Main Event than Bill Simmons?

A: 1st let me note that I earned my way into Main Event by winning a satellite rather than convincing my editor’s it would make a good column piece. 2nd I played ~13 hours, Bill flamed out in 1st level.

A: It feels good. It would rank below day daughter was born and 1st date with wife.

Q: Who is the smartest person you know?

A: This would be Doug who I have known since college. Doug loves watching college basketball and for many years we went to the NCAA Basketball Regional or Sub-Regional tournament together. One year he missed because he took Ann to tourney and proposed during the game. Doug still gets to go to tourney every year and although Ann rarely goes she gets sentimental about Basketball every March.

Q: Have you ever gotten in trouble for going on Basketball trips with wife or daughter?A: When daughter “M” was 4 I went to Austin for NCAA tourney one weekend. Doug had gotten a digital camera and prepared a photo collage of visit which included a picture of me sitting next to his daughter at Salt Lick and playing a game of chess. When I got home from trip M saw the picture and asked lots of questions about everyone in picture but clearly from question she was most interested in who was this girl? 2 Nights later M came out of her bedroom to get broom and dust pan wife “E” then watched her bring torn up picture out and throw it in trash and she said “That’s my Daddy”

Q: Why do you always refer to them as “wife” and “daughter”?

A: An old co-worker G-Man always referred to his wife as “wife” his son as “son” or “the boy” and his daughter as “daughter” or “the girl” his explanation was it was easier on co-workers since they did not have to keep track of names nor did he have to clarify who he was talking about telling stories. After I was married with child I had not yet adopted this convention when after the trip in question above my department’s administrative assistant asked me, how was my trip? My answer was "I enjoyed it but I was in trouble at home because I had cheated on M." Apparently she told someone what I had said and by the end of the day women all over my workplace are giving me dirty looks. It was late afternoon before Patty who had known me the longest said to me “I can’t believe you cheated on M” my answer was “you know E is my wife’s name and M is my daughter”. At that moment I realized the wisdom of the G-Man’s convention and adopted it.

Q: How the F*%k does it feel to play BBT tournaments with a horseshoe up you’re a$$?

A: I find by using a hemorrhoid pillow there is no discomfort.

Q: How do you think you will do in Mookie tonight?

I generally don’t put much stock in things waffles says but I read this “I am preparing my most potent Waffles curse for him tonight and it should knock him out early. I do not think he will last more then ten spots tonight.” And got these in IM yesterday: “when you come back to earth its gonna be fun to watch, I shall put the waffles curse on you and everything you touch shall wither and die” during ½ Cash last night I lost 1 pot with a 7 hi straight (holding 77) to someone holding 78 and then 3 hands later got stacked with an underset. Can’t completely rule out a waffles curse but still believe the greatest curse is to be waffles.

Monday, June 25, 2007

IM sent to both MiamiDon and Hoy around 5:00 PDT:Bayne Steele: Must start motivational process, has anyone ever been defending champion of Mookie Riverchaser's and MATH at same time?

Was card dead early and felt I played well until down to 14.

This hand was 1st key suckout, I still had 10k behind after I bet flop and PokerBrian smooth called. I checked turn while I tried to determine waht pokerbrian called flop bet with and led out with a weak bet on river to draw a raise.

2nd big suckout occurred when I flopped top pair (Aces) from SB against bottom 2 pair in BB (Itsroulette), I rivered 2nd pair after calling flop push and sent itsroullette home earlier than he deserved.

I then played big stack bully while holding a run of cards that Astin would even feel some shame in getting. I don't think anyone was left in greater disbelief than Columbo who went out in a SB v BB unraised pot where he flopped top pair J kicker and I flopped top two pair.

MATH was fittingly finished off when my 43 offest flopped trips and leftylu made an air push at me.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Thought it would be a good time to lend my expertise to handicapping the race for 2nd in the BBT. Odds are for entertainment purposes only. I unlike Blinders will not be accepting wagers.

Let’s evaluate the contenders one by one.

BuddyDank is currently in 2nd with a 135 point lead. Buddy’s his trend is to get into the points 75% of time and carries a quite respectable 41.9 pt/event. I would have to believe Buddy will end the series in the neighborhood of 1300-1420 points range. The Mookie was also one of rare nights where I paid attention to the likely “pursuers” due to presence of Iggy, OOSSUUU and Buddy all playing at a common table as points bubble approached. Buddy clearly felt he was having an off night and prioritized folding to the points since 2nd in BBT is worth more money than winning RiverChaser’s and Mookie combined I see this style of play continuing.

Having set a points target let us now evaluate who can reach 1420.

MiamiDon is ninth in the standings with 898.5, he has proven he can put on a run (see beginning of BBT) but with 5 events left one of which is a Riverchaser’s HORSE which typically awards 110 points for 1st vs. the 210 points a Big Game victory will bring or the170 points that 1st will bring in the other 3 events. Don has skillz to win the needed events but still probably needs an additional 120 points in Mookie & RiverChaser’s to achieve 1420 target. I believe the lure of live poker leaves Don at 10:1 to play 5 events so he would be 50:1 to take 2nd at best. All below Don in standings face an even more taunting task, as a group the field below would have to rate as 40:1 (We all know what a tear Chad can go on in MTT and now that we have also learned that Waffles is a better MTT player than Chad everyone better watch out)

I can’t really disagree greatly with this post about the play of oossuuu754 and Iggy other than to add that Iggy’s disregard for reaching points in BBT events has hurt him in the standings. I believe since mid-May Iggy has busted out within 10 spots of points bubble 5 or 6 times and some of those hands were on bluffs or entering into known best case races. OOSSUUU and Iggy would seem to have equivalent chances to reach 2nd due to Iggy being 35 points ahead but likely given past trends to miss one event. Both are certainly capable of winning at least one event as we head down the final 8 days of the challenge.

jeciimd and Astin being 14 points apart in the standings would seem to provide equivalent chances for 2nd but when we look closer we find some interesting data. Astin has made final Table in 3 of the last 5 events he’s played (There might be another blogger running better lately but name escapes me) , at Racetrack this is Horse I am looking for as odds are still probably long given current 231 point differential but if he can convert a final table appearance into a victory he’s got a shot. Jeciimd on the other hand still sits with Zero cashes. This defies all imagination. When he breaks his slump he will go on a tear, he may bust out of slump Monday but talks with Smokkee can only lead to one conclusion, don’t bet on a trend to turn.

NewinNov and RecessRampage are another 40 points back, they are in a similar boat to Don in that key for them to catch up is a win the BigGame and final table in other events both do have 7 Final Tables under their belt so not out of question but odds remain long.

Buddy, Iggy and oossuuu have all previous shown a tendency to wither when trying to run down an in all modesty STRONG front-runner. It will be interesting to see how Buddy handles the pressure of being the pursued. Especially in light of Iggy's past record on placing bounties on clearly misplaced targets (like I would forget about placing bounty on Don and not me). Jec has broken form so he slips in the betting line more than points should dictate while Astin must be moved up in betting line. The real factor that could influence this race is how many of the premium point slots will the current leader snag in the remaining 5 events?

Remember the more people that you get to sign up the greater the points pools to contend for.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Took down my 2nd Mookie of the BBT. I also felt it was unfair for Hoy to put a $11 bounty on me to go out in 1st 5 when I would not be eligible. He manned up and said if I won that I would indeed collect the bounty.

Will have to go back throught the hands for the more interesting ones.

I did play back at Hoy early where I limped UTG, he raised and I shoved, (calling station huh).Was fortunate that my very limited steals were not played back at, and when I did raise I was played back at with smaller hands with the exception of when my button raise with AQ sooooted was played back at by Astin (who if we read Hoy's playbook is aggressive) I figured he had an Ace and was just off on my read by a single Ace.

Rest of tourney was a blur but did lose to kaellinn18 with AT when Kaellin had A8 and got 8 on river, extra pain when it's river. I tilted a little but shoved next 3 hands with 2 of them being good hands (not just by my stands either).

Heads up with cmitch I spewed chips by slowplaying AA only to see 2 6s hit flop J on turn and 6 on river. Thought NFW he has case 6 and bled. Rallied with a race holding 99 and then finished him off with a trademark lucksac beat. Having a 5:1 chip lead thought my A3 was good but he had 99.

The Donkey Gods Waffles worship rewarded me with 2 3s on flop and victory was mine.

BuddyDank and InstantTragedy provided a great show, to be honest Buddy's pain does add to the enjoyment for me (and probably Sean).

Read about the Eskimo saga and was troubled. I can understand that Harrah’s can’t force him to go to hospital. I am amazed that not one of his friends or family members tried to do something.

My Mom had a stroke at her sister's house Thanksgiving around 12 years ago. Daughter was just 2 weeks old so I didn't go. Despite the fact that she kept dropping things they let her cousin Judy drive her the 100 miles home to Northern Virginia. My Aunt did call me to let me know that Mom probably had a stroke and I should try to meet her at her house (My Dad was on a Hunting trip). When Mom walked in door she told me "she didn't want to say anything during dinner but she thought she had a stroke". I drove her to local hospital, the doctor’s diagnosed she indeed had a stroke and she was admitted and the Nurses kicked me out so she could rest. After 3 months of physical therapy Mom moves slower now and no longer smokes but she is pretty much at same level of health she was before.

My Mom didn’t seek immediate medical attention because she didn’t want to upset everyone during the holiday weekend. Sadly this kind of thinking was not due to the stroke. The 30 or so relatives dining with her “did not want to embarrass her”, so they let everything go on as if nothing was happening without taking her to local hospital. In hindsight knowing how dysfunctional family can be I’m glad Mom’s cousin had the good sense to insist on driving.

The good Doctor is certainly correct that Eskimo’s “friends” want him unstuck more than they want him healthy but I’ve seen stupider things.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Met wife and daughter at BestBuy for lunch. My dealings with Customer service at the Mountain ViewBestBuy and over the phone and email had left me at point where I was ready to never set foot in BestBuy again. We had Service plan on TV we bought (780p 44" projection) and were having no luck getting part replaced or replacement. Wife went to Santana Row BestBuy and Ka-Ching old TV picked up and store credit for a new. Now we have 42", 1080p, 1920x1068 LCD.

Edit: Picture of TV had to be added.

Picture is sharper, 1st time wife catches me using it for computer monitor multi-tabling 20 tables I am in deep kimchi.

Gigli in the MATH after I flopped a nut flush draw and had the misfortune of catching flush with the board pairing. Thought HeffMike might have Kings over boat but could not pull the trigger on folding.

Had bright idea to "compact" my pokertracker database, little did I know this seems to mean info stored in unviewable manner. Believe I was up another $100 playing cash. I may build up bankroll to proper levels to support playing $1/$2 soon.

Once I realization hit that PT database was empty I fired up $100 NL and played this hand.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

I railed Fuel as he won his Main Event Seat on PokerStarsstop by his blog for his write-up and to congratulate.

I finished 28th in the $26k on FullTilt, I was sitting 14th when I tried the Chad move. I was in BB with 43 suited Button raised. Flop was T 5 3 and I jammed the Ace-less flop. Sadly the button was holding TT.

Did manage to double up and get working chips when I was in next BB 1/3 of my stack committed and UTG+1 raised a 43 suited into my T9 suited. We both hist a pair on flop and he cleared out chasers.

Went out a few hands later when with Blinds at 4k/8k I jammed 41k with ATo and was called by big stack with 33 on button. Moral is if you try Chad moves you face the moronic plays that put Chad out too. Props to Lana, MiamiDon and Weak who railed me through tourney end game.

Played more cash than usual, might have shared a 1/2 table with weak_player for 9 hours where I netted $360. Need to work on that hourly rate.

Daughter did wake me up and present me with 2 fine Tommy Bahama shirts and another pair of shorts. By end of day she let me know I was annoying her. She is 12, I am usually annoying.

I am always disgusted when AK pushes after whiffed flop and hits taking me out, it's even worse when I flop 2 pair or set and they hit 2 runners for broadway. Apparently Bracelet winners think AK is the goods too! Forgot to make a last longer bet

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Far be it for me to call out anyone's play (that is waffle's role) but I bet 1/3 pot after river because as BB I could have 5d but wanted a little blocking bet to see if no one had diamond and got a caller with KJo no diamond.

Had MysticJoe (age unknown) to my left and I my poker skills do not extend to being able to put him on a hand. Fortunately I picked up QQ (and picked off a few limpers) than AA on consecutive hands. On AA hand Mystic was kind enough to re-raise his AK and not river Broadway on me.

Saw oossuuu go out pre-points and personally got to witness BuddyDank not only fail to lay down top trips (Has he ever laid down top pair?) but also wait until IslandBum had rivered the absolute nuts to raise him. Once the top 2 "challengers" were knocked out I got to hear Buddy put a $5 bounty on me while broadcasting an excellent show. Now traditionally the bounty collects the bounty with a win. Played rather well until FullTilt Server Tilt set in with about 21 left and I pushed AJ suited UTG and was called and beaten by AK.

Low point:

Table 5 - 250/500 Ante 50

Seat 1: bayne_s (1,030)

Seat 2: DaBag (6,755)

Seat 4: ragedy26 (9,360)

Seat 5: corron10 (4,285)

Seat 7: daiwee (1,065)

Seat 8: pushmonkey72 (6,185)

Seat 9: pebble78 (11,579)

Then instead of a chop

pebble78 raises to 1,000

bayne_s calls 480, and is all in

pebble78 shows [5d Ah]

bayne_s shows [2c Ad]

Uncalled bet of 20 returned to pebble78

*** FLOP ***

[2d 6c Ks]

*** TURN ***

[2d 6c Ks] [Th]

*** RIVER ***

[2d 6c Ks Th] [Ts]

pebble78 shows a pair of Tens

bayne_s shows two pair, Tens and Twos

bayne_s wins the pot (2,310) with two pair, Tens and Twos

A steal with the Mookie no callers, then my next BB:

Dealt to bayne_s [8h 9h]

pushmonkey72 raises to 3,820, and is all in

pebble78 folds

bayne_s calls 2,260, and is all in

pushmonkey72 shows [6d 7s]

and the better hand holds. Gotta believe in the sooted connectors Smokkee especially against pushmonkey.

After this I played more solidly, accumulated chips and eventually went from 3 handed short stack to chip leader and then Lucko would have been proud of pressure applied.

While this was going on I was railing Chad at $22k Final Table and saw him a) discover his chat was back and b) suffer a ridiculous donkey beat with QQ vs. a 33 who called Chad's push. I was thinking how did this dude make FT of $75 buyin tourney? Then I remembered the ridiculous beats I've been taking in Token Frenzy this week.

Edit: Pokerwolf has correctly pointed out I forgot to add my Rue the Day Jordan element to post, though to be honest last night's motivation was brought on by BuddyDank.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

I was excited and apprehensive about going to Vegas this time. Prior to June 7, Dr Pauly was the only blogger I had ever met. Managed to get to a good stopping point at work on Thursday, checked Southwest.com and saw that 2 earlier flights still had seats and got clearance from boss to take off early.

A rare work related disclosure: My CEO wants information about company to remain “within the walls” but feel it is okay to disclose my boss has a fascination for poker to a lesser degree than mine and his boss has been kicked out of The Barbary Coast for card-counting at Blackjack. It’s good to have management that is sympathetic to my gambling fascination.

Checked in at Rio and hopped Harrah’s shuttle over to Harrah’s. Was waylaid by Craps table at Casino Royale (site of a beautiful 80 minute roll 2 years ago) on my way to Venetian where I met MiamiDon and Chad, conversation was brief as they were closing in on end of dinner break from Venetian $540.

I then headed to Orleans (no link for this Hotel which I will never visit again) and headed to the bowling alley. After a few minutes hanging around IG determined I must be another poker player and introduced herself, Falstaff, Mattazuma, Zeem, Mattazuma, Alan Penner, Brdweb, MeanHappyGuy and Gnome soon made appearances and the bowling was on. Trying to remember names, blog names and FullTilt ids overloaded my brain for a little while so apologies to Brandon and Astin and others I have missed above.

We adjourned to the casino for PaiGow (god I hate that game) and I cracked and introduced Jason to craps. Apologies for not introducing the important concept of press sooner as I was focusing on getting back to even when table got hot.

Called it an early night and headed to Rio where I saw a gentleman walking by with a “Drinking for Jesus T-Shirt” walking toward the Rio Poker room. Not sure of best way to ask question I placed a drunken 2:30 am cell phone call to STB and was rewarded with the ring of a phone and gentleman looking at phone and saying “707 area code, who the f*ck do I know in” at which point I called out “STB” and hung up. Met Bad Blood and Otis as well and greeted Dr Pauly as well before retiring.Friday June 8

Woke up at the crack of noon, used up some of my Harrah’s comp points for breakfast and continued my streak of positive results playing –EV games with Let it Ride at Rio, Craps & Blackjack at Gold Coast and Let it Ride at The Palms. Went to Nine at the scheduled time to meet MiamiDon and others for dinner and found that there was no reservation for Don. Left him a message on his cell while sitting at a nearby Video Poker machine that left me a good view of the entrance to N9ne and also a view of apparently the preferred path of every woman leaving the pool. Managed to win another $50 before Don called and was very apologetic that he had cancelled and not notified me, no worries I was in Vegas and on a heater. Since flow of money from video poker seemed to subside I headed back to Rio and then on to MGM.

Enjoyed the Horse game that Gadzooks got started, having Columbo to my immediate left was very humorous for the numerous clarifications “there’s a Straddle?”. Having the Poker Room manager come to us to buy up the blue chips as the poker room had run out of dollar chips. I tried to entertain the table by what Columbo referred to as “Bluffing the Un-bluffable Table” during Stud by representing a made straight (T 8 7 6 rainbow board) on 6th street and getting Alan to fold his 5s up on 6th street and getting Gnome to fold his Ace high board on 7th street. To sell the bluff I had not looked at 7th street but after not making the straight could not resist showing the K high hand.

It certainly was a pleasure to put faces and spontaneous personalities with people I’ve gotten glimpses of through blogs, chat and IM.

My wife has now discovered I have a blog and is shocked that I have done something sociable. I have learned an important piece of wisdom that I must pass on to my male, married poker playing brethren. The phrase “I have a 16 year streak of not cheating on my wife intact” which sounds good to a sports fan male does not sound as good to a wife that you have known for 16 years and a few months. Rounding down is bad and better phrasing should be used.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Woke up at the crack of noon, had breakfast at the All-American Sports bar then headed over to the Orleans to play in my 1st live blogger tournament. Arrived early and won my entry playing blackjack as I drank water diet cokes to eliminate de-hydration undoubtedly caused by the dry desert air. Pulled a table with Linda in seat 1, Grubby in seat 4, StB in seat 5, me in seat 6 a no show in seat 7 and Fuel in seat 8. Apologies to those I’ve forgotten but having Fuel act immediately after me every hand rattled me. Was quite card dead and when I did raise from an early position with AQo saw a ragged T 7 4 flop. I have no idea what I picked up on that prevented a continuation bet nut I check-folded to Fuel’s smallish bet and he showed T 4. A few orbits later I considered entering a pot because after folding around to button Grubby made a motion like he was going to muck and then raised. StB beat me to the re-raise and I hesitated to consider whether StB had seen same thing as me and would fold if I re-popped. I folded and Grubby quickly mucked as well. Super-Turbo structure that Orleans provided left me quite short-stacked quickly as when down to 27 player I was down to 3x BB. Linda’s BB was 1st hand I can remember being folded to me and I pushed without looking at my cards. Linda called with pocket 6s and I turned over a deuce (crap) and a King. Luckily I hit both cards to survive and managed to pick up a few chips from Waffles (who had replaced StB in seat 5) when he folded to a shove pre-flop.

When down to 2 tables again I tripled up when faced with an early limper and a Mattazuma shove from Button and I found 9To in BB (with 1/3 of my stack already committed) I called only to find I was up against 33 and KT. A lovely 9 on flop allowed me to continue my Lucksac ways to Final table. I managed to accumulate some chips when Iak min-raised from cutoff, I called with AKs from button and silly Don went all-in (not a raise) with 22. My 6 month streak of pwning Don in races continued with an Ace on the flop and a small bet sent Iak to the muck and Don did not improve and found the rail. A few hands later I found myself in the money and my return to my card dead ways continued as Mrs. Spaceman ran over table until I picked up a 54 suited on the button. I raised (but was pot committed) and she shoved with KJo. I spiked a 5 on the turn for a brief lead but a River J sent me to rail.

Had dinner with 10 other bloggers and Falstaff led the conversation through Charlotte area home games, WCW, WWE and top rock songs of all time. I thought we were going to bad blood assault someone for calculating a bill to the penny but order prevailed and a round dollar amount for all was verdict.

Returned to poker room to watch the other bloggers play $1/$2 NL (via a craps table) before retiring early as I wanted to be rested for Venetian Deep-Stack on Sunday.

Monday, June 11, 2007

I have opted to work backwards in my trip reports as those memories are freshest.

I got to bed a little after midnight on Sunday as I had decided to play the Venetian Deep Stack. 367 runners competing for a $106k 1st prize with Kenna James as one well known pro in field.1st 2 levels I flopped top 2 pair 3 times but lost to a higher 2 pair, a flush and a straight but late in the 2nd level I managed to get my chip stack above starting levels when I am pretty sure I cracked AA with KK after turning a straight.

3rd level I managed to pick up 2 decent pots as I was at a table with lots of limping and family pots but had seen others try to raise people out of pots which resulted in larger family pots.1st pot I was in BB with A 7, UTG limped with AQ and there were 4 limpers ahead of me. Flop was 7 4 2 rainbow and I checked as I wasn't confident that TPTK was good in a family pot. (I am sure seeing a hammer flop so soon after a blogger tourney was a factor). Turn was an Ace and I led out with a 2/3 pot sized bet which UTG raised. Queen did not come on river and I was finally back over stack average. Next orbit I saw a free flop with Q7 only to see a QQ 3 flop. I bet out pot since there were 2 clubs and 5 players had seen flop. Got 2 callers on flop but after # came on turn action was dead.

5th Level I folded every single hand, I had pocket 4s once and saw a raise then re-raise in front otherwise best hand was the Mookie.

6th level I folded every single hand for 1/2 hour, I was down to 8x BB when I picked up pocket 9s UTG +1, I pushed, table folded quickly and British guy on button said "He hasn't played a hand in an hour and a half, I would fold Kings". Table goaded me into showing my "Aces" and I did show my 9s. 3 hands later, same British guy raised to 2500 (BB was 600 or 800) and I decided to re-raise to 7500 with only 2500 behind. He thought for a while and I just tried to look relaxed and asked neighbor to my right if he had seen Red Sox score on scroll on ESPN. Tournamnet staff showed up behind him with chip racks and he folded JJ face up. Since I was leaving table I went ahead and showed my 94 (soooted).

Level 7 at new table UTG raised and I picked up AA at UTG +2, UTG had pissed off table and there was a turkey sandwich bounty on him so I re-raised, I considered smooth call but that would have led to 4+ way flop. Instead my re-raise took down hand pre-flop.

Level 8 lasted 2 hands for me. BB and I were 2 smallest stacks, 1st hand big stack limped UTG + 1, tight player at table raised, I folded and BB pushed and was called by the raiser who had TT against Bb 44. 2nd hand UTG big stack limped and I raised to 4k, with TT, SB now pushed and having just seen him shove 44 I called off last 10k chips and lost race to his AK. I probably went out around 98th.

Headed straight back to Rio and went to check on blogger progress in Ladies Event.Don and I railed Lana on her way to a cash in the Ladies Event, she went out soon after bubble burst on a set-up hand. (In BB with AT sooted against a SB shove with AK).

Joined them for a celebratory drink at the Hooker Bar before Weak Player (former blogger) and I scratched my craps urge one final time before departure. We went to Gold Coast, table started off hot as 2nd shooter was hot, followed by me and weak having good turns. Table was hot and weak was making and crushing the -EV bets. Including a field, press, press sequence as I rolled. I left +$200, weak +$550 after 45 minutes and weak was kind enough to give me ride to airport so I could catch rediculously early flight.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Made trip to Bank yesterday.Felt strange to make a deposit prior to Vegas trip but had receied checks from Homeowners Insurance and Mortgage Company settling post closing balances.Southwest Airlines Boarding Pass is printed.

As a former Rugby player I must adhere to the code that "What goes on the road stays on the road" so a post trip report from me will be dull. I have a 16 year streak of not cheating on my wife intact but I ask if any gambling stories are told about me please reduce the size of the wagers to min bets! All other stories fair game. Posting pictures of me are allowed.

Overplayed AK (suited) early in Mookie and then got knocked out with AA the very next hand.Both times it was all-in pre-flop and I was up against TT that flopped set.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Played my local home-game tournament (http://www.cadillacpoker.com/). If you are in San Jose area I can advise playing as the food served at the break is quite excellent.

Only thing that went wrong for me is I did not play an AT UTG during level 1. If I had I would have collected $700 for the bad beat jackpot.

During rebuy period I only saw 4 flops from outside the blinds and won all. Was probably shortest stack from point where we were down to 2 tables until money bubble burst. 4 times at the final table a player was all in and survived leaving 10 standing with 9 paying.

When Money bubble burst I was short stack of the 9 with about 110k chips when the level changed. Level 9 was 8k/16k with 1k ante. Level 10 was 10k/20k with 5k ante. Although I was short stack, big stack of 9 could not have been more than 250k. With 75k in the pot, before 1st action it became a push-fest.

My 1st button I got to open-raise and had a 5h6h, being the sooted donk Smokkee claims I am I pushed and both blinds called and I tripled up when my 5 hit and their QT & AQ missed.

QT went out a few hands later. My next BB I picked up JJ and was faced with an UTG push from prior holder of AQ I instantly called and was faced with J8 and held up easily.

At this point I was big stack and my inner donkey started braying.

I called an all in from Short stack with QJ suited and lost to K3 suited. Next hand UTG pushed and I looked at a AJ suited. I was a JackAce and called and rivered a Jack to beat his AQ.

At 4 handed I was UTG and big chip leader, I raised to 90k after looking at QT Soooted, and SB went all in for 150k, BB smooth called.

Flop was JT4 with 1 of my suit and BB pushed for another 100k. I am thinking WTF, 4th is $800, 3rd is $1100, 2nd is $1700 but 1st is $2750, I have backdoor flush and straight getting 6:1 with 2nd pair, I call.

BB has AJ, SB has KK and both are out when Q comes on turn and brick on river.

Heads up was quite uneventful as chip lead was humongous and it was not long before we both flopped 2nd pair and I had better kicker.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Blew a big chip lead against BuddyDank then had an aw-fawk-it moment with the under-side of an OESD and took down Kat's Friday Donkament. Failed in my goal to personally stack waffles.

But was patient enough to wait for cards and took a lot of TripJax chips with a KK in small blind and the rest with a TT when his AK lost a race.

While playing a .5/1 cash table I found a player who loved his top pair 2nd/3rd kicker.

1st stacking he limped UTG with a KJ and we saw K 4 2 flop when I was holding 42 sooted. In my defense Smokkee even plays suited 1 gappers when he gets to check in BB. I bet pot was raised and called. when harmless looking 7 came on turn I bet pot again and he pushed his KJ and failed to suck out.

2nd stacking it folded around to me in SB and I just completed with AQ, he raised from BB with AJ and flop was a very pretty A Q 7 rainbow. Betting was same as previous hand and he got up in disgust after 2nd stacking.